Peartree railway station

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Peartree railway station is a railway station serving the districts of Pear Tree, Normanton and Osmaston in the city of Derby, England. It is one of only two stations currently open in the city other than the main Derby Midland Station, and is situated about one mile south of there on the main line to Birmingham. Except for a short period in which Derby - Birmingham local services called at the station, Peatree has for many years been (and is currently) served (on Mondays to Saturdays) by just two trains each way on the Derby - Stoke on Trent - Crewe service, provided by Central Trains.

[edit] History

Originally called Pear Tree and Normanton, it was one of the original stations of the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway, opening on August 12, 1839. In 1868, a branch line to Melbourne was opened, diverging from the main line at Melbourne Junction immediately south of the station. This branch had been wholly closed to passenger traffic by 1930, and the diminished importance of Pear Tree and Normanton station as a result contributed to its closure on March 4, 1968.

On October 4, 1976, the branch line was partially reopened as far as Sinfin in order to transport workers to and from the Rolls-Royce plant there. As a result, the newly renamed Peartree station (note alternative spelling) was once again in use. Whereas the two stations at Sinfin were within Rolls-Royce property and hence only accessible to employees, Peartree had full public access restored. Although the Sinfin branch was once again closed to passengers in 1998, Peartee has remained open as a result of its location on the main line; however, as a small suburban halt, main line services rarely stop here and the station is little used by passengers as a result.

[edit] Facilities

Access to the platforms is from Osmaston Park Road (part of the A5111 Derby ring road), which crosses the line immediately to the south of the station. There are no station buildings or shelter, and the entrances are badly overgrown. As of January 2007, the station itself was without signage denoting the location and the platforms were in an exceedingly poor state of repair.